Glossary of Legal Violations
Access to a lawyer denied: All persons charged with a crime have the right to choose a lawyer, access their lawyer, and if they cannot afford to hire a lawyer, they have the right to a public defender. If a prisoner is denied any of these options, we register this violation. Although the Note to Article 48 of the Iranian Code of Criminal Procedure restricts the choice of lawyer to "official lawyers approved by the Chief Justice of Iran," this is at odds with both the text of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran and international law. Therefore, we have excluded this Note from our assessment. (Article 14 ICCPR, Article 11 UDHR, Principle 17 BoP, Principle 18 BoP, Article 35 CIRI, Article 48 CPR, Article 1 RSFL)
Access to healthcare denied: All prisoners have the right to healthcare. If a prisoner is denied adequate and effective medical care, if there is a health-threatening delay in receiving medical care, or if a prisoner is forced to pay the cost of their necessary or immediate healthcare treatment, we register this violation. (Principle 9 BPTP, Principle 24 BoP [General Comment No.20], Articles 103, 113 POR, Article 502 CPR)
Battery: Battery is the intentional and direct interference with the body of a prisoner that is either harmful or offensive. Where the severity and purpose of the act do not amount to torture, battery against a prisoner is considered cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment and registered as a violation. (Article 7 ICCPR, Principle 6 BoP, Principle 21 BoP, Article 16 CAT, Articles 38, 39 CIRI, Article 9 IPHD, Article 7 RDCP)
Death in custody: All individuals have an inherent right to life, of which they must not be arbitrarily deprived. If a prisoner dies while in custody, either as a result of toture, inhumane detention conditions, or lack of medical care, we register this violation. IPA also considers a prisoner’s death by natural causes while in custody as a deprivation of life, because of the arbitrary nature of the detention. (Articles 6, 7, 9 [General Comment No.35] and 10 ICCPR, Article 22 CIRI)
Death sentence: All individuals have an inherent right to life, of which they must not be arbitrarily deprived. In countries which have not abolished the death penalty, a death sentence can only be imposed for the most serious crimes in accordance with the law in force at the time of the commission of the crime and not contrary to the ICCPR. Moreover, the death sentence can only be carried out pursuant to a final judgment rendered by a competent court, and may not be imposed on minors. Anyone sentenced to death must be given the right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence. Given the inherently arbitrary nature of political arrests and convictions, all death sentences issued against political prisoners are registered as a violation. (Article 6 ICCPR, Article 22 CIRI)
Failure to disclose reason for arrest: When authorities arrest an individual, they must promptly disclose the reasons for the arrest and any charges against the arrestee. If authorities fail to disclose this information at the time of the arrest, we register this violation. Where an arrestee is remanded into pre-trial detention, the preliminary case must be sent to qualified judicial authorities within a maximum of 24 hours and the judicial interrogator is obliged to clearly explain the rights of the accused, the charges against them, and the reasons for the charges. (Articles 9 and 14 ICCPR, Article 9 UDHR, Principle 10 BoP, Article 32 CIRI, Article 92, 94, 195 CPR)
Failure to present a legal warrant: In order for authorities to legally enter someone's property, or arrest them, they must present a legal warrant in written form. If officers enter a residential property, a commercial property outside of working hours, or arrest an individual, without a written warrant, we register this violation. (Article 9 ICCPR, Article 9 UDHR, Article 32 CIRI, Article 58 CPR)
Family visits or telephone calls denied: All prisoners must be treated with humanity and with respect for their inherent dignity. One facet of this right is the ability to maintain contact with the outside world, especially one’s family. Authorities must allow prisoners visitation with their family (spouse, parents, parents-in-law, siblings, and children) at least once a week, and may only deny such visitation for disciplinary reasons up to three times. Authorities must also allow prisoners to contact and inform their family about an arrest or prison transfer. Finally, authorities must also grant prisoners awaiting their execution a final visit with their family. If authorities deny prisoners any of the above rights, we register this violation. (Article 10 ICCPR [General Comment 21], Principle 15, 16, 19 BoP, Articles 175, 180, 182 POR, Article 35 RIP, Article 50 CPR)
Forced TV confession: All persons charged with a crime have the right not to be compelled to confess guilt, especially under coercive circumstances. Moreover, under Iranian law, media outlets and authorities are prohibited from publishing any visual media that identifies an accused, during the preliminary investigation. Nevertheless, it is a common practice by the IRI to coerce and force confessions under duress and record them for public distribution. If a forced confession by an accused or prisoner is published on television or online, we register this violation. (Article 14 ICCPR, Articles 4, 91, 96 CPR, Articles 37, 39 CIRI)
Inhumane detention conditions: All prisoners must be treated with humanity and with respect for their inherent dignity. One facet of this right is respect for the standard minimum treatment of prisoners in detention. If prison authorities fail to maintain separate categories of prisoners (criminal versus political), if they fail to provide clean and sanitary facilities thereby exposing prisoners to infectious diseases, or if they deny prisoners access to food, hot and cold water, showers, cooling and heating facilities, outdoor recreation, or any other basic necessity, we register this violation. (Article 10 ICCPR, Principle 1 BoP, Rules 11, 22 and 24 NMR, Article 39 CIRI, Article 9 IPHD, Article 7 RDCP, Article 93, 107, 110 POR)
Imprisonment in exile: Imprisonment in exile is a common sentence issued by IRI authorities, which obliges a prisoner to carry out their sentence in a prison far from their place of residence. This sentence is illegal under Iranian law, which legally prescribes that a prisoner must be transferred to the prison of their place of residence, or to the nearest prison in that region. Under international law, a prisoner should be kept in a place of detention or imprisonment reasonably near his usual place of residence, if they so request. (Principle 20 BoP, Articles 32, 36 CIRI, Article 513 CPR)
Physical torture: All prisoners have the right to be free from torture. Physical torture is a deliberate act that inflicts severe physical suffering on a person and aims to force that person or a third party to carry out a particular act, prevent them from a particular act, extract information or a confession from them, or seriously harass them. Physical torture may be inflicted by government agents or individuals who have been directly or indirectly instructed by them, and this is registered as a violation. (Article 7 ICCPR, Principle 6 BoP, Principle 33 BoP, Articles 38, 39 CIRI, Article 9 IPHD)
Pressure on family: All individuals have the right to be free from unlawful interference with their privacy, family, and home, and to be free from arbitrary detention. A common tactic of the IRI is to put pressure on the family of a political prisoner in order to coerce a confession or other behaviour. Pressure on family is registered as a violation if authorities interrogate a prisoner's relatives, if they violate a relative’s right to privacy or work, or if they prosecute, detain, or punish a relative for the prisoner's actions. (Articles 7, 9, 17 ICCPR, Articles 32, 36, 37 CIRI, Article 175 POR, Article 56 CPR, Article 5 PRC)
Prolonged pre-trial detention: Pre-trial detention is a measure of restraint by which a person accused of committing a crime is kept in custody, under order of a judicial authority, to ensure their appearance before a court, prevent their further criminal activity, and/or prevent unlawful interference with the investigation of the case. Authorities must use the least restrictive measures to achieve these objectives and only use pre-trial detention as a last resort. Under international law, the length of pre-trial detention must be “reasonable” and is assessed on a case by case basis, but can become prolonged anywhere beyond a few weeks to a month. Under Iranian law, pre-trial detention must not exceed the minimum prison sentence prescribed by the law for the crime the accused is believed to have committed up to a maximum of one year. If the crime is punishable by death penalty, the pretrial detention period must not exceed two years. If it does, we register the violation. (Articles 9 ICCPR [General Comment 8] and 14 ICCPR, Article 242 CPR)
Prolonged solitary confinement: Solitary confinement is the practice of separating a prisoner from other inmates within a prison, often constrained into a small cell, with very little contact with other people. Prolonged solitary confinement is maintaining these conditions for longer than 15 days (international law) and 20 days (Iranian law). Prolonged solitary confinement can constitute either torture or cruel, degrading, and inhumane treatment and is registered as a violation. (Article 7 ICCPR [General Comment No.20], Articles 4 and 16 CAT, Articles 36, 38 CIRI, Article 175 POR, Rule 44 NMR)
Psychological torture: All prisoners have the right to be free from torture. Psychological torture is a deliberate act that inflicts severe psychological suffering on a person and aims to force that person or a third party to carry out a particular act, prevent them from a particular act, extract information or a confession from them, or seriously harass them. Psychological torture may be inflicted by government agents or individuals who have been directly or indirectly instructed by them, and this is registered as a violation. (Article 7 ICCPR, Principle 6 BoP, Principle 33 BoP, Articles 38, 39 CIRI, Article 9 IPHD) 